Current-wheel.



No. 703,87l. Patented July I, I902.

J. A. WELLS 8:. J. D. SUMBALL.

CURRENT WHEEL.

(Application filed. m 7, 190m (No Model.)

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3 3 .11 WITNESSES ZiZm/% VE N T095 armed J2. 242 225 JAMES ASHLEY lVELLS AND JESSIE DANIEL SUMRALL, OF KNIGHT, TEXAS.

CURRENT-WH EEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 703,871, dated July 1, 1902.

Application filed August '7, 1901. Serial No. 71,193. (No model.)

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that we,JAMEs ASHLEY WELLs and JEssIE DANIEL SUMRALL, citizens of the United States, and residents of Knight, in the county of Polk and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Current-Wheel, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a current-wheel in which the paddles are mounted to slide upon the spokes of the wheel in order to prevent breakage of the wheel by drift material and to prevent the wind acting detrimentally upon the paddles of the wheel.

A further purpose of the invention is to utilize the power generated by the movement of the wheel to raise and lower said wheel whenever the condition of the stream may require such adjustment to enable the paddles to act upon the water advantageously at all times.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of .this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the frame and the operative parts of the device, and Fig. 2-is a plan view of the same.

The main frame of the machine consists of two standards A, placed at a suitable distance apart and parallel with each other, each standard having an upper convexed section A, and the curved portions of the standards A are supported at what may be termed the rear of the frame by uprights B and B,

which are preferably straight, and these rear uprights B and B are connected by suitable braces or cross-bars l).

In the outer face of each standard A a longitudinal channel 12 is produced, which channel extends along the convexed upper portions of these uprights A, as is shown in dotted lines in Fig. land in positive lines in Fig. 2. Blocks 11 are held to slide in these channels 12, which blocks carry bearings 10, and in these bearings the trunnions or shafts of the water-wheel O are mounted to revolve.

Each block 11 is attached to one end of a cable or chain 13, and these cables or chains are carried over roller-guides 14 at the outer ends of the rear standards B, thence ordinarily downward through suitable guides 15 and over roller-guides 16, carried by a rear crossbar 17, connecting the standards B, as shown in Fig. 2, and the rear ends of the cables or chains are preferably attached to drum enlargements 18, formed upon a shaft 19, journaled at the rear portion of the frame, and the bearing 22 for one end of the shaft 19 is so constructed, as shown in Fig. 1, that this end of the shaft may have lateral movement. A ratchet-wheel 20 is secured to this end of the shaft outside of the frame, being engaged by a pawl 21, so as to hold the shaft 19 in adjustable position, it being understood that the shaft 19 is for the purpose of raising and lowering the bearings for the water-Wheel O as'occasion may require.

A gear-wheel is located at the adjustable end of the shaft 19, and the adjustment to the shaft is effected through the medium of a lever 24, which is pivoted at its lower end to the frame andreceives the shaft19 at its adjustable end in a suitable guide. (Shown in Fig. 1.) Thus by moving the lever 24 the shaft 19 may be carried forward or rearward to a connection with a shaft driven from the water-wheel in a manner to be hereinafter set forth. Thus it will be observed that the power of the water-wheel is utilized for raising and lowering the wheel as required.

In order that the shaft 19 shall not race, a brake is provided, which consists usually of a disk 26, secured to the shaft and engaged by a brake-lever 27, fulcrumed upon the frame.

As stated, the shaft 28 of the water-wheel O is mounted to turn in the adjustable bearings 10, and the said water-wheel consists of two heads 29, each provided with radiating spokes 30, having stops at their outer ends, and paddles 32, mounted to slide on corresponding spokes through the medium of suitable guides 32 or their equivalent, attached to the paddles and exten'ding-aroundtthe spokes. Thus it will be observed thatthe paddles when not in action will slide of their own volition toward theaxis of the wheel, and the wheel and the paddles will not there fore be subjected to an unnecessary extent to the action of the Wind, and should any paddle meet with drift material it may move upon its supports so as not to be injured by such material.

A driving-wheel 33 is secured to one end of the water-wheel shaft 28, and a chain belt 34 is passed over this wheel and over a sprocketwheel 35, secured to a driven shaft 36, suitably mounted at the rear of the frame, which shaft is provided with a driving-pulley to be connected by a belt with any machinery to be driven. The driven or line shaft 36 is also provided with an attached gear 37, and when the water-wheel is to be raised or lowered the gear 23 is brought into mesh with the gear 37.

It will be observed that there is no governor, since in the construction of the device such is not needed. Should the machinery travel faster than the wheel by an excess of momentum, the action of the paddles on the water will tend to regulate the speed of the machinery, as the machinery will then act to accelerate the action of the paddles instead of the paddles serving to drive the machinery.

The blocks 11 may be changed in shape and may be provided with friction-rollers, as may likewise all shifting parts of the machine.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of a frame provided with spaced and curved standards having longitudinal channels in their outer faces, sliding bearings mounted in the channels of the standards, a water-wheel mounted'in the said bearings and having a sprocket-wheel on one end of its shaft, a driven shaft provided with a sprocket-Wheel and a gear-wheel, a chain belt passing around the said sprocketwheels, a winding-shaft mounted in the frame and provided with drums, at ratchet-wheel, and a gear-wheel for meshing with the gearshaft, and cables having one end secured to the sliding bearings of the water-wheel shaft passed over roller-guides and their other ends secured to the drums of the winding-shaft,

substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The combination of a frame provided with spaced standards having channels in their outer faces, sliding blocks mounted in the channels of the standards, a water-wheel mounted in said blocks, a driven shaft provided with a gear-wheel at one end, gearing between the said shaft and the shaft of the Water-wheel, a winding-shaft mounted in the frame and provided with a ratchet-Wheel, and a gear-wheel, one end of the said shaft having sliding movement in one of the bearings therefor, a pawl engaging the said ratchetwheel, a lever pivoted to the frame and connected with the sliding end of the said shaft, whereby the shaft can be moved to throw the gear-wheel carried thereby into and out of mesh with the gear-wheel of the driven shaft, and cables having one end secured to the sliding blocks passed over guides and their other ends connected with the winding-shaft, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JAMES ASHLEY WELLS. JESSIE DANIEL SUMRALL.

Witnesses:

W. H. HENRY, A. B. GREEN. 

